The Mummy: Jessie Carnahan Adventures
by XxRoseyxX
Summary: Jessie Carnahan is a famous archaeologist who just stops in Cairo to visit her little sister, and gets dragged into an adventure to find Hamunaptra, that along the way, leads to danger, new friends and Rick O'Connell. She's instantly attracted to the American explorer and as they get closer to Hamunaptra, they find themselves falling in love. O'Connell/OC, Ardeth/Evelyn
1. Chapter 1

**THEBES –** **1,290 B.C**

 _ **Thebes. City of the Living. Crown jewel of Pharaoh Seti the First.**_ _ **Home of Imhotep, High Priest of Osiris, Keeper of the Dead, and the object of his affection, The Pharaoh' daughter, Princess Anai. The princess was in love with Raia, the leader of the Medjai, her father's personal guard. The Pharaoh, realizing the benefits of the match, and wanting his eldest daughter to be happy, agreed to the marriage. Imhotep was enraged with jealously and tricked the Pharaoh's mistress, Anck-su-namun, into believing he loved her. The two of them conspired to kill the Pharaoh and Raia, usurping them to become Pharaoh, but Anck-su-namun didn't realize that Imhotep planned to make Anai his queen. Little did he know, Anai and her younger sister, Nefertiti were on her balcony, and witnessed the entire thing. Anck-su-namun committed suicide and Imhotep was to resurrect her, but Raia and Anai stopped him. Since they were not yet married, Anai became Queen and sentenced Imhotep to suffer the Hom-Dai for murdering her father. His priests were to be mummified alive for their part in the assassination. Anai and Raia were married and his first act as Pharaoh was to instruct the Medjai to guard his sarcophagus, making certain that Imhotep was never to be released onto the world, because if he was, he would bring forth the Apocalypse.**_

 **CAIRO - 1925**

I walk into the Cairo Museum of Antiquities to visit my little sister, Evelyn, whom I haven't seen in 2 years due to a dig down in Thebes. I'm an Archaeologist and have been traveling around the world, which doesn't leave a lot of down time in between digs. I'm one of a few archaeologists in the world with experience in discoveries others dream of, which makes me a valuable asset in any dig. I'm wearing a simple white blouse with a dark brown corset, brown trousers, knee high dark brown boots, with a dark brown holster for my two Colt 38 revolvers and I have a knife in my boot. I also have my tan messenger bag with brown buckles. My brown hair is down, reaching the middle of my back, in soft waves. I lean against the door, just in time to see Evy. She's mumbling to herself, not realizing that I'm watching, so I keep quiet. Carefully, so as not to lose her balance, she looks over her shoulder to the bookshelf behind her, where all the titles begin with the letter 'TO. Then she looks down. I can see that it's a long way to the bottom, and she isn't fond of heights. Evy gently sets the other books down on the top shelf, then turns and slowly starts to reach across the aisle with the book. It's a little too far, so she stretches, holding the top of the ladder with her fingertips, she's almost got it. And that's when the ladder pulls away from the shelf. Evy yelps in fright, flings the book and grabs the top of the ladder, which stands straight up. Evy is swaying precariously, a long minute, and then she loses her balance, the ladder swings around and she starts stilt-walking down the aisle.

"OHEIUGM! AHHHHHH!" She exclaims, as the ladder crosses the aisle, does an about face and heads back the way it came. Evy clings to the top, struggling for balance. The ladder teeters out into the main aisle and picks up speed. Evy screams as it does a 180, spins into another aisle and finally crashes to a stop at the top of a bookshelf. Evy sighs heavily, so I could hear it. And that's when the bookshelf falls away from her and crashes into the next bookshelf. Evy slides down the ladder and plops to the floor. She looks up just as the domino effect kicks-in: each bookshelf crashing into the next. And onward it goes. Bookshelf after bookshelf.

"You always were accident prone, little sister." My smooth British accent flows through the room and Evy looks up at me.

"Jessie?" She calls out in surprise and after getting up, she pulls me into a hug. She's wearing a white button up blouse with gray stripes, a long tan skirt, and her brown hair, like mine, in a bun, with her eye-glasses on. I've just turned 25 while Evy is 21 years old. We look very similar, the only differences are that my skin is slightly darker, from all my time in the sun, I have more curves where other women wish they did, my hair is shorter than her waist length hair, and I have green eyes while she has hazel eyes.

"Hey Eves. Been a while." I greet in reply and she nods, before looking over my outfit and frowning.

"What are you wearing?" She asks me, and I roll my eyes at the disapproval in her eyes as she glances at my trousers.

"You know I don't like skirts. Besides, I just came from a dig in Thebes. I wanted to see you." I explain and she smiles.

"You couldn't have helped me?" My little sister asks me and I shake my head, smirking.

"And miss all of that? Not a bloody chance!" I tell her, nudging her playfully and she smiles slightly.

"Language." She scolds. Just then, the curator walks in and sees the mess.

"Look at this! Sons of the Messiah! Give me frogs, flies, locusts, Anything but this! Compared to you, the other plagues were a joy!" He exclaims in anger, and I glance at Evy, who's looking down at her feet. She's always been a quiet one, never speaking in her defense, but I've never had that problem.

"I'm sorry. It was an accident." She apologizes, voice sounding small.

"When Ramesses destroyed Syria, it was an accident. You are a catastrophe! Why do I put up with you?" He asks her, rhetorically, in his anger. I tense up and Evy turns to me, silently begging me not to say anything, but I've always had a problem with not listening too.

"You put up with her, because she can read and write ancient Egyptian, decipher hieroglyphs and hieratic, and she's the only person, besides me, within a thousand miles who knows how to properly code and catalogue this library. And I'm willing to bet she's the only one who can put up with you!" I angrily rant and he scowls down at me.

"Who needs smart women? I put up with you, Miss Carnahan and your outspoken sister, because your mother and father were our finest patrons, Allah rest their souls. Now straighten up this meshiver!" He explains to Evy and I flinch when he mentions our parents. The curator storms out, and we stand there, me steaming and Evy looking sad. We hear a noise and I take out both of my guns, turning to where the noise came from. I'm still reeling from the curator's rudeness towards my baby sister.

"'Who needs smart women?' Moronic, arrogant, incompetent men that can't do their own work. How dare he treat you that way. Oh! I want to take my boot and shove it-"

"Jessica!" Evy exclaims and I bite my lip, effectively stopping my rant.

"You should stand up for yourself. In my line of work, men won't take you seriously unless you do." I explain to her, which is true. I'm only as famous as I am because I never let a man act superior to me, and I always speak my mind. That's another difference between Evy and me. I was sarcastic, confident, outspoken, reckless, had trouble with following orders, and I'm skilled with weapons. Evy was quiet, highly intelligent, book minded, and very mannered. She was my opposite in every way, which was probably a good thing, the world only needs one Jessica Carnahan after all. It couldn't handle two.

"Hello?" Evy asks and it's eerily quiet. We hear feet shuffling across the floor, coming from a gallery nearby, so Evy grabs a torch off the wall.

"Abdul? Mohammed? Bob?" Evy calls out and I roll my eyes, walking in front of her, into the gallery, guns pointed in front of me.

"Honestly, Eves. I don't think they'll answer back." I mutter and we hear the noise again, so we walk over to a tomb, and a mummy pops up, causing Evy to scream and I sigh, knowing who it is, so I re-holster my guns. She steps back, gasping, and we hear laughing as he kicks his legs, sitting up.

"You! You!" Evy stutters.

"Drunkard? Fool? Rat bastard? Make sure it's something original. He's heard it all before." I tell her, leaning against the statue behind us. Our older brother, Jonathon, laughs and I roll my eyes. I pull a cigarette out of the mummy's mouth and frown at him.

"Have you no respect for the dead? Or at least, for a good cigarette?" I ask him, looking at it sadly for a moment, before throwing the cigarette on the ground.

"Right now, I only wish to join them." He says, grinning drunkenly and I roll my eyes, while Evy punches him on the chest, causing me to smirk.

"Well I wish you'd do it sooner rather than later, before you ruin my career the way you've ruined yours. Now get out." She retorts, slapping him on the cheek and I smile at her.

"My dear, sweet, baby sisters, I'll have you know, that at this moment my career is on a high note." He informs us as he drunkenly climbs out of the tomb, before he belches so close to my face that I can smell the alcohol, then falls back and sits on the edge of a tomb.

"High note? Ha!" I scoff

"Oh, Jonathon. I'm really not in the mood for you. I've just made a bit of a mess in the library and the Bembridge Scholars have just rejected my application form again. They say I don't have enough experience in the field." Evy informs us, sadly, sitting at the base of a statue.

"What? Why haven't I heard about this before now?" I ask her, shocked that she was rejected as I sit next to her. Jonathon walks over and kneels in front of her, taking her hands.

"You'll always have us, old mum." He tells her, and I playfully smack him.

"Jon, we're supposed to be making her feel better, not worse!" I joke and the three of us share a laugh. "Eves, you can always come on a dig with me. It'll be fun. You can see me in action. We haven't been together in a while." I offer and she seems to perk up at the thought.

"Oh! I've got just the thing to cheer you up!" Jonathon exclaims, standing up and scrounging in his jacket.

"Oh no, not another worthless trinket, Jonathan, if I bring one more piece of junk to the curator to try and sell for you.." Evy trails off as Jonathan pulls out a small, ancient box. Evelyn is instantly curious, she grabs the box out of his hand, and I lean over her shoulder, my eyes examining the box.

"Where did you get this?" She asks him, fully entranced in the box. Jonathan gives us a mischievous smile and I frown, because nothing good ever comes from that smile.

"On a dig, down in Thebes." He answers and I immediately know he stole it because I've just come from a dig in Thebes. Evelyn rolls the box around in her hands, both of us mumbling to ourselves as we translate the hieratics and hieroglyphs covering it. Jonathan licks his lips in anticipation as we try to date the object.

"My whole life I've never found anything, Evy, Jess. Tell me I've found something. Evy's fingers play with the various little slats on the box, shifting them this way and that way, it's like a puzzle box. Then suddenly, it unfolds itself, almost-mechanically. Sitting inside the open box is a folded piece of golden papyrus. An ancient map of some kind.

"Jonathan?" I say, my fingertips tracing symbols on the box.

"Yes?" He asks, almost nervously.

"I think you found something." I tell him, my eyes trailing onto the map recognizing a symbol on it. We take the box to the curator so he can appraise it after Evy and I conclude that it is indeed authentic.

The curator sits at his desk, staring through a jeweler's eyepiece at the box as Evy hovers behind him, excited, Jonathon is pacing around the office, and I'm leaning against the wall, so I can watch the door, playing with my compass, that Evy got me the day of my first dig, it's gold and has JRC engraved on it.

"See the cartouche there, it's the official royal seal of Seti the First, I'm sure of it." Evy explains, pointing to it.

"Perhaps." He admits, looking up from the map.

"Two questions. Who the hell is Seti the First? And was he rich?" Jon asks and I roll my eyes.

"He was the last Pharaoh of the Old Kingdom, said to be the wealthiest Pharaoh of them all." I explain to him, uninterested, as I toss my compass and catch it.

"Alright, good, that's good. I like this fellow, like him very much." Jonathon tells us and I sigh at my older brother's greed, as the curator picks up the map.

"I've already dated it, this map is almost four thousand years old. And the hieratics over here..." She trails off, breathing deeply. "It's Hamunaptra." She tells him and the curator freezes, seeming nervous, before recovering.

"My dear girl, don't be ridiculous, we are scholars, not treasure hunters. Hamunaptra is a myth." He dismisses but I interrupt.

"Speak for yourself. You may be a scholar, but _I'm_ an archaeologist and it is believed to be very real in my profession." I argue, catching my compass and putting it back in my bag.

"Are we talking about _the_ Hamunaptra?" Jonathon asks us, almost disbelievingly.

"Yes. The City of The Dead. Where the early Pharaohs were said to have hidden the wealth of Egypt." Evy answers excitedly, and I smile slightly at seeing her so interested in a topic.

"Right, right, in a big underground treasure chamber." He says and the curator scoffs. "Oh, come on! Everybody knows the story. The entire necropolis was rigged to sink into the sand. On Pharaoh's command, a flick of the switch! And the whole place could disappear beneath the dunes." Jonathon rambles and my eyes widen at his knowledge in something other than pick-pocketing. I look at Jonathon and Evy, not noticing the curator hold the map closer to the candle-lamp.

"As the Americans would say: it's all fairy tales and hokum." He dismisses, the map 'accidentally' catching on fire, and the curator exclaims, throwing to to the floor. Jonathon and Evy drops to their knees and quickly put it out, lifting it up, and the left third of the map was burned off. I walk over from my place by the wall and glance at the map. It's practically useless without that part.

"You burned it! You burned off the part with the lost city!" Jonathon accuses angrily.

"It's for the best, I'm sure. Many men have wasted their lives in the foolish pursuit of Hamunaptra, no one has ever found it, most have never returned." The curator assures them and narrow my eyes.

"You killed my map." Jonathon says to him, devastated.

"I'm sure it was a fake, anyway, I'm surprised at you, Miss Carnahan, and even you Miss Carnahan, to be so fooled." The curator says to us, reaching over for the box, but Evy grabs it quickly, while I give him a suspicious look before we walk out of his office.

"Okay, Jon. Tell us where you really got that box." I tell him, crossing my arms, as soon as we're out of earshot of the curator's office.

"I told you..." He tries to explain.

"I've just come from a dig in Thebes. Try again. How about the truth?" I ask, and he sighs, nodding before telling us.


	2. Chapter 2

"Come, come! Step over the threshold." The man invites, as we walk into the prison. "Welcome to Cairo Prison, my humble home!" The warden introduces.

So, it turns out that I was right, and Johnathon did steal the box from a man in a bar. Well, the man is now being held in Cairo Prison. We are escorted through the gallows courtyard by the warden, who happens to be the most disgusting man I've ever met. He seems to fit in, with the conditions in the prison being atrocious. Evy leans over to whisper to Jonathon, so the warden won't hear.

"You told me you found it on a dig down in Thebes!" She accuses and I roll my eyes at her naivete.

"I was mistaken." He simply says, in response.

"You lied to me! To us!" She tells him, pointing to me.

"I knew it was a lie. He lies to everyone, what makes us special?" I ask her and she seems surprised that I asked.

"We're his sisters." She answers and I scoff.

"That just makes you more gullible. Well, you, Evy." Johnathon tells her and I smirk.

"You stole it from a drunk at the local Casbah?!" Evy asks, incredulously.

"Picked his pocket, actually." Jonathon corrects and I smile.

"Nice. Stole it off a drunk man. I'm so proud." I mutter sarcastically as we walk to the visitor's pen.

"Now, what exactly is this man in prison for?" Evelyn asks the warden.

"I did not know, so when I heard you were coming, I asked him that myself." He explains and I shudder as he looks me over before back to Evy.

"And what did he say?" I ask him, curious.

"He said,...he was just looking for a good time." The warden informs us, just as the cell door opens and a four guards drag a man in chains up to the cell bars. From what I could tell, he is somewhat handsome with his face half hidden by long hair, a scraggly beard and many new bruises. I notice his eyes are a brilliant blue color, the most attractive thing about his current appearance. Evy looks at him, disgusted by his appearance.

"But he's just a filthy criminal?" Evy says to us, and I cringe, glaring at her.

"Way to go, Evy. Not like he isn't right there." I scold her as the man gives Evy a once over before looking me over, slightly longer than her.

"So who're the broads?" He asks and I smirk, while Evy gets offended by his choice in words.

"Broads?!" She exclaims and I roll my eyes.

"They're my sisters, actually." Jonathon replies.

"Yeah? Well, ...I'm sure they're not a total loss." The man says after a minute, and Evy is stunned and furious while I'm not offended at all. Being a woman in a mostly male profession, I've heard worse. The warden turns to head to the door.

"I'll be back in a moment." The warden announces and I roll my eyes.

"I tremble with anticipation." The man says at the same time I say "I simply can't wait for your return." A guard clubs the man in the side of the face, but the man gives me a look when he hears my comment. He shows no pain, but just looks back and gives the guard a nasty look. Evy steps closer.

"We uh,...found ... your puzzle box, and we've come to ask you about it." She tells him, carefully picking her words. 

"No." The man says, and Evy looks like she's never heard the word before.

"No?" She repeats, looking confused.

"No...You came to ask me about Hamunaptra." The man corrects, which causes Evy and Jonathan to quickly look around, hoping the guards didn't hear him. We step closer to the pen.

"How do you know the box pertains to Hamunaptra?" She asks him coyly.

"Because that's where I found it. I was there." He explains and my mouth drops open, and I was, lack of a better word, dumbstruck.

"How do we know that's not a load of pig swallow?" Jonathon asks him, and the man seems to recognize him, if only slightly.

"Hey,...don't I know you?" The man asks Jonathon, suspiciously.

"Um, well, you see..." Jon trails off as the man's fist hits him square in the jaw. Jonathon hits the floor, out cold, and Evy rears back in shock. A guard clubs the man. His head bounces off the bars again and he shows no pain, simply gives the guard another nasty look. Evy looks down at her brother, fussing over him, while I glance back to the man, not even looking at my brother, as I step over him.

"You were actually at Hamunaptra?" I ask him and he seems surprised I'm still talking to him.

"I just decked your brother." He reminds me and I roll my eyes.

"Yes, well, I know my brother. He probably deserved it." I tell him, shrugging and he almost smiles.

"Yeah, I was there." He admits, referencing to Humanaptra.

"You swear?" I ask him, impressed at this man's discovery.

"Every damn day" He replies, which makes me smirk.

"That's not what she means." Evy explains and I shake my head.

"He knows what I mean." I inform her.

"I was there, alright. Seti's place. The City Of The Dead." He confirms and I smile widely.

"What did you find?" Evy asks him as I ask "What did you see?"

"I found sand." He tells her and turns to me. "I saw death." He explains and I frown. The warden enters and I quickly lean closer to the man.

"Could you tell me how to get there? The exact location?" I ask him, wanting to see it myself.

"Want to know?" He asks and I lean closer.

"Yes." I tell him.

"Really want to know?" He asks and I lean my face close to the bars.

"Why else would I ask?" I retort, and the man steps forward, grabbing my face and kissing me full on the lips.

"Then get me the hell outta here!" He exclaims, and I'm at a loss for words. A guard clubs him, his face bounces off the bars again, but before he can react the guards grab him, pull him away from the bars and drag him out of the room. "Do it, lady!" He yells just before being dragged out.

"Where are they taking him?" I ask once I find my voice.

"To be hanged. Apparently he had a very good time." The warden tells us, showing off his green teeth. We head to the gallows where hundreds of dirty prisoners stare down as the hangman's noose is draped over the man's head and clinched around his neck. I follow the warden onto a balcony, which makes the prisoners go silent, like animals staring at their prey.

"No women allowed." He tells me and Evy comes out behind me.

"We are English women." She corrects and that confuses him as he shrugs before sitting down. The man looks up as Evy sits down next to him and I stand by the railing.

"I will give you one hundred pounds to spare his life." She offers and I roll my eyes. It'll take way more than 100 pounds.

"I would pay one hundred pounds just to see him hang." The warden dismisses.

"Two hundred pounds." She tries again.

"Proceed!" The warden calls out.

"Three hundred pounds!" She offers and it goes silent. The hangman grabs the lever to the trapdoor. 

"FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS!" Evy exclaims loudly. The warden sets his greasy, lecherous hand on Evy's leg and I place a hand on my holster.

"And what else?" He asks, suggestively, and as I move to shoot the bastard, she quickly his hand with a book, causing the prisoners to laugh at him. The warden angrily turns and gestures to the Hangman, who pulls the lever and the trapdoor drops.

"NOOO!" Evy and I scream in despair as the man drops through the hole. He his hanging by the rope but he's alive..

"His neck did not break! Good! Now we watch him strangle to death." The warden announces and I gape as the prisoners go crazy, shouting. The guards look around, nervous as the man struggles at the end of the rope, gagging. I turn away from the man and the next words I say are out of my mouth before I can think.

"He knows the location to Hamunaptra." I say and the warden quickly looks at me.

"You lie." He accuses and Evy shakes her head.

"She would never!" She answers adamantly. The man is turning several shades of red as the warden looks at us.

"Are you saying this filthy godless son of a pig knows where to find The City Of The Dead? Truly?" he asks us in disbelief.

"Yes and if you cut him down, we will give you ten percent." I offer him.

"Fifty percent." The warden counteroffers.

"Twenty." Evy argues.

"Forty." He suggests and she hesitates, biting her lip, which means she's nervous.

"Give ... give him ... give him GLAAAA-!" The man hanging tells her.

"Twenty-five percent, and not one single farthing more." I offer, giving a serious look. The warden flashes a big green smile, and I pull my gun out of it's holster and shoot the rope, causing the man to drop and everyone to grow silent, staring at me as I smile, re-holstering my gun before walking away. We head to the Giza port where we wait for the man to meet us.

"Do you really think he'll show up?" Evy asks us, unsure as we stand on the dock in front of the boat.

"Undoubtedly, I know the breed, he may be a cowboy, but his word is his word." Jonathon informs her and I roll my eyes.

"And just how do you know the 'breed', dear brother? Steal from one too many?" I ask, playfully nudging him and he rolls his eyes at me.

"Personally, I think he's filthy, rude and a complete scoundrel. I don't like him one bit." Evy tells us and I frown at her.

"Well, I like him. He's sarcastic, straightforward, clearly knows how to throw a punch, and well, it does help that he's easy on the eyes." I admit and Evy raises a brow at my admission.

"Anyone I know?" I hear someone ask and we all turn to see the man, know now as O'Connell, cleanly shaven, showered, with a hair cut and new clothes. He certainly looks more dashing, and definitely handsome. I was right about him being handsome, he certainly looks more handsome after cleaning himself up, but his brilliant eyes are the same as when I saw him at the prison and I smile at him.

"Oh ... um,...hello." Evy says, in shock and I smirk, while Jonathon shakes his hand.

"Smashing day for the start of an adventure, eh, O'Connell?" My older brother greets, patting him on the chest and O'Connell quickly checks his pockets.

"Yeah, sure, smashing." He replies reaching in his pocket, finding his wallet and relaxing.

"Oh no, no, I'd never steal from a partner, partner." Jonathon assures him and they both chuckle, although O'Connell's might have been sarcastic.

"That reminds me, no hard feelings about the.." O'Connell asks, pretending to throw a punch.

"Oh, no, no, happens all the time. Usually by Jessie." He tells him, nodding in my direction and I smirk.

"And most of the time, you deserve it." I reply, and my brother chuckles. Once she gains her composure, Evy clears her throat.

"Mister O'Connell, can you look me in the eye, and guarantee me this is not some sort of flimflam?" Evy asks him, sounding very unsure of herself.

"If it is, I'm warning you, I'll do whatever it takes to protect my family." I warn him and he steps closer, standing right in front of me and I don't back down, our gazes locked, his blue eyes meeting my green.

"You're warning me? Lady, let me put it this way. My whole damn garrison believed in it so much, that without orders, we marched halfway across Libya and into Egypt to find that city. And when we got there, all we found was sand and blood. I'll take your bags." He informs us, and he grabs our bags, heading up the gangplank, onto the ship. I watch him go, with a slight smile on my face and unfortunately, my siblings see.

"Is it possible that our sister is infatuated? And with an American. Who knew?" Jonathon teases and I roll my eyes.

"I'm not infatuated. He's just handsome. That's all." I try to dismiss, but Evy smirks.

"No, you like him. I see it. You're never this way with men. If any other man kissed you like he did, you'd have shot him where he stood, or at least threatened to. You liked it." She informs me smiling and I scoff, though not believably. And that's when the warden suddenly brushes past, tipping his raggedy hat.

"A bright good morning to all." He greets and I scowl.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I ask, sounding rude, which causes Evy to narrow her eyes.

"I have come to protect my investment, thank you very much." He informs us, going up the plank. I share a look with my siblings before we head onto the ship. Later, I find an empty table and decide to clean my weapons, so I grab my bag and sit down. I'm in the middle of cleaning my prized Colt 38 twins when a gunny sack is tossed onto the table and I quickly look up to see O'Connell as he sits down.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya." He apologizes and I roll my eyes as I finish one of the 38's and pick up the other.

"Nothing scares me, Mister O'Connell, not even your manners." I retort and he smirks.

"Still angry that I kissed ya, huh?" He asks me and I smirk back at him.

"If you call that a kiss, personally I've had better." I tell him as he reaches into his gunny sack and starts pulling out revolvers, pistols, hunting knives, a massive elephant gun, and a half dozen carefully wrapped sticks of dynamite.

"Did I miss something?" I ask, gesturing to my own gunny sack, filled with everything but the dynamite.

"There's something out there, something under that sand." He explains, taking out a revolver and dismantling it.

"Yeah, my sister is looking for an artifact, a book. Jonathon is after treasure, the greedy bastard, and I'm trying to protect them both. What do you think is out there?" I ask, borrowing his rag to clean my gun.

"In a word? Evil. The Tuaregs and the Bedouin believe that Hamunaptra is cursed." He informs me and I smirk.

"Yeah, I don't believe in fairy tales, O'Connell. My sister believes that one of the most famous books in history is buried out there, The Book of Amun-Ra. It's what interested her in Egypt when we were children. It's why she's here. I'm here because of my pride: I never pass up a chance to be a part of a discovery like this. Blame it on the archaeologist in me, but I'm curious as to what exactly happened to Hamunaptra." I explain as I move on to clean my shotgun, and I look up to see him looking at me, amused.

"And the fact that they say it's made out of pure gold, makes no never mind to you, right?" He asks me and I grin, impressed that he knew that, but I take out my knife and polish it.

"I'm not my brother. I don't go all 'weak in the knees' at anything shiny. But Evy would be impressed. You know your history." I tell him, smiling.

"I know my treasure." He corrects and I nod, being the same. I re-holster my knife in my boot and look at him a minute.

"Why did you kiss me?" I ask him and he shrugs his shoulders, still cleaning his guns.

"I was about to be hanged, seemed like a good idea at the time." He answers and I grab my things and stand.

"Yeah, you know, I thought that's what you'd say." I reply, sounding angry and disappointed at the same time before I walk off.

"What? ... Wha'd I say?" I hear him call after me and I stop once I see a camel. I put my bag down and pet it, trying to rein in my emotions. After a few minutes, I feel eyes on me, and I turn to see O'Connell and a weasel-looking man watching me so I pick up my weapons bag and storm off to my room, where I change into my nightgown and seethe on my bed, much to Evy's amusement. She grabs the brush and brushes my hair as I rant about the frustrating American.

"'Seemed like a good idea.' Ugh! Why do I care so much? It wasn't even a good kiss!" I exclaim and she leans forward, giving me a look. "Well, it wasn't a _great_ kiss." I amend, to which we break into giggles, until I drift off, but I wake up when I hear Evy gasp. I lift the pillow off my head, and grab the knife from underneath it and sit up. I see Evy being pushed into a wall with a hook at her throat, and I see red.

"Where is the key?" He asks her, more like demands.

"Key? What key?" She asks, scared and I make my move. I climb out of bed, make my way behind him, and stab him in the back, not damaging anything important, but it still hurts like hell. O'Connell barges in and another man opens the window, and O'Connell shoots him, also shooting the lamp, which sets the couch on fire, while I grab Evy, moving her away from the man in black on the ground. I grab the knife in his back, and twist it so I can grab my weapons bag behind him, before I pull it out. He stands and I shove him backwards, into the fire, which causes him to scream in pain. Evy grabs the box, and we run out of the room. Evy gasps and tries to run back to the room, but I grab her arm.

"The map! The map! I forgot the map!" She exclaims and I shove her forward.

"Relax, I'm the map. I got it all up here." He tells her, tapping his forehead.

"That's comforting." She mutters and I smirk. I grab my Colt 38 out of my bag, and O'Connell and I alternate on shooting the other men in black. O'Connell is reloading and I notice the bullet strikes moving closer to his head, so I pull him towards me right before a bullet lands where his head was and we share a look before shooting all the men in our path. When it's safe he turns to Evy.

"Can you swim?" He asks her and I realize what he's going to do.

"Well of course I can swim, if the occasion calls for it." She replies and I smirk as O'Connell re-holsters his guns.

"Trust me," He pauses, picking her up and throwing her over. "The occasion calls for it." He finishes before looking to me.

"Don't even try it, O'Connell." I threaten before I jump over the side and swim to the river bank, with my bag of weapons safe on my back. I drop them on the shore and try to ring out my nightgown as it clings to my body. I look up to see my brother and the warden have come to shore, while O'Connell is staring at me, and I blush unintentionally once I realize just how much the nightgown shows of my curves. We look over to see O'Connell's weasel-looking friend on the other side of the river, where all the horses, and where the Americans swam.

"Hey O'Connell! Looks to me like I got all the horses!" The weasel calls over, trying to brag.

"Hey Beni! Looks to me like your on the wrong side of the river!" O'Connell yells back and the weasel, or Beni, realizes this and starts to throw a tantrum, kicking the water, which makes me giggle.

"Come, on. There's a village not too far from here. We can get some supplies and.. clothes there." O'Connell explains, glancing at me once more before I pick up my weapons and we begin our walk. As soon as we walked into the village, all eyes were on Evy and me, mostly because of our lack of clothing. Several women brought us inside and offered us clothes. Evy was dressed in a beautiful blue dress with silver stitching, white sandals and a blue veil covering the bottom of her face. I was given a black top with gold stitching that stopped above my navel and had sheer ¾ sleeves. The skirt started at my hips and was also black with gold stitched designs. My hair was down and loose, stopping at my back, but I pinned my bangs in a braided style with 2 small daggers. They gave me a pair of black boots that were very comfortable and a black veil very similar to Evy's. I strapped my knife to my thigh and we walked outside. O'Connell and Jonathon were leading four camels over and O'Connell glanced at Evy before noticing me and his eyes widened at my appearance. I smiled at my impression on him and kept walking forward, feeling his eyes follow me.


	3. Chapter 3

We're riding our camels in the middle of the Sahara. I ride next to O'Connell, talking weapons mostly, but also having to listen to my brother complain, about everything.

"Never did like camels. Filthy buggers. They smell, they bite, they spit. Disgusting." He complains about his camel for the 3rd time. I look back and the warden savagely attacks a chicken wing with his vile green teeth. Flies buzz around his head. He sucks at his gums, then spits out some gristle, and I share a disgusted look with O'Connell, who was also watching him.

"Yeah, disgusting." He agrees and I look to see my little sister having the time of her life and I smile.

"Well I think they're cute." She tells us, petting hers on its head. We ride through the frying pan until well into the night. The moon is shining on us as we continue to ride. Jonathan is sound asleep, his head bobbing comically to the rhythm of his camel. On the camel next to him, the warden is snoring loudly. Up in front, Evy slowly starts to slide off her saddle. O'Connell reaches over and stops her, then gently pushes her back up onto her saddle, never waking her. I lock eyes with him and silently thank him and he smiles. For a long moment, his eyes never leave mine, and then he looks up at a distant ridge where a group of riders are watching us. The next morning, the sun hasn't crested yet and I was up most of the night, so I was irritated by the bickering behind me.

"And you snore!" Jonathon exclaims.

"I do not snore!" The warden objected.

"All night you snored!" Jonathon insists and I sigh loudly in frustration, which causes my sister to giggle.

"I have never snored!" The warden maintains. I'm riding next to O'Connell with Evy on my other side. O'Connell glances over at me and I smile tiredly.

"We're almost there." He assures me and I nod.

"Are you sure?" She asks and O'Connell looks down at the ground.

"Pretty sure." He replies and we look down to see dozens of skeletons sticking out of the ground. Some are bleached and eaten away. Some of the skeletons look like they're trying to crawl up out of the desert floor and I scowl at the sight.

"What in bloody hell is this?" Jonathon exclaims and the warden shivers in fear.

"Other seekers of Hamunaptra." He informs my brother just as the Americans ride out from behind the far end of the dune. The Americans are accompanied by two dozen native diggers and an Arab Egyptologist. That weasel, Beni, rides lead on a camel, the rest ride horses.

"Good morning, my friend!" Beni greets and O'Connell nods. We stop about a hundred feet apart. O'Connell turns and stares at the endless desert horizon, and Beni does the same, while the Americans look confused.

"Well, what the hell we doin'?" One man asks, impatiently.

"Patience, my good baratom, patience." Beni replies and a man looks over at O'Connell.

"First one to the city, O'Connell! Five hundred! Cash bucks!" The blonde man calls out to O'Connell while O'Connell and Beni just stare out at the flat nothingness. I share a look with my siblings, and then, the sun starts to rise in the distance, breaking the flat horizon. Another man looks at Beni.

"A hundred of them bucks is yours if you help us win that bet." He tells Beni and the weasel grins at the thought of money.

"Oh, my pleasure." Beni replies and O'Connell scoffs.

"Hey, O'Connell. Nice camel." Beni says, meaning it like an insult, and O'Connell just pets his camel.

"It is a good looking camel. Better than looking like a Hungarian weasel with a stupid mustache!" I exclaim, and Beni frowns while I hear a few people snicker, including my brother, and even O'Connell smirks.

"Get ready." O'Connell tells us, looking over at me, and I look at him in suspense.

"For what?" I ask him, curiously.

"We're about to be shown the way." He says in reply and far to the right, a huge shape begins to rise with the sun. A volcano. I see that O'Connell and Beni watch it, expressionless.

"Here we go again." O'Connell mutters and I look at him, curiously. We wait a minute and then O'Connell grins, a very attractive grin. Beni grins and they share a look before they swat their camels and race away. We all hurry after them. O'Connell and Beni are neck-and-neck. And then Evy and I come galloping up, our hair flying in the wind. I see Beni takes out his camel whip and starts whipping O'Connell, trying to knock him off his camel He hits him twice and on the third time, O'Connell grabs the whip and jerks Beni off his camel. Beni slams to the ground and tumbles which causes me to laugh.

"That's what you get, weasel!" I exclaim as I ride past him. O'Connell keeps up while Evy and I race across the desert. Evy smiles, looking so alive and I laugh at how much fun she's having and O'Connell grins at me. I glance back to see Beni stumble to his feet, then quickly dance out of the way as Jonathan and all the other riders stampede past him. Evy beats O'Connell and I to the stone ramp, racing hard.

"Evelyn! Slow down!" He calls and I see what he's warning her about. Evy ignores him as she races towards the gate.

"SLOW DOWN, EVELYN! THERE'S A REALLY BIG- " He yells as I yell "SLOW DOWN, EVY!" But she didn't hear us and she goes ass-over-teacups through the air and crash lands in a sand dune. She sits up, stunned, sandy hair in her eyes. O'Connell and I stop at the edge of the ramp next to her camel.

"Never mind." We say together and then chuckle with each other as the Americans ride up and look in wonder at the ruins inside the volcano. I see O'Connell gives them a big, shit-eating grin. I smirk.

"I believe you boys owe him five hundred dollars." I say, smirking, as I lean my elbow on O'Connell's shoulder and he chuckles. O'Connell, Evy, Jonathan, the warden and I are working next to a narrow crevice, which weaves it's way through the ruins. I watch O'Connell tie a rope around a pillar and throw the rest of the coils into the crevice, about to rappel down. Jonathon is cleaning an ancient mirror for Evy.

"That's the statue of Anubis. Its legs go deep underground. According to Bembridge Scholars, that's where we'll find a secret compartment, containing the golden book of Amun-Ra." Evy informs us.

"Jonathon, you're meant to catch the sun with that." Evy instructs and our brother starts cleaning the mirror harder.

"That thing gives me the creeps." Jonathon admits about the statue and I roll my eyes.

"Be nice. That thing saved my life." O'Connell tells him and I smile.

"That "thing" gets me excited" I remark, smirking.

"The things that get you excited." O'Connell says, sarcastically.

"You have no idea, O'Connell." I tell him, winking.

"What are those mirrors for?" O'Connell asks Evy, trying to change the subject.

"Ancient mirrors. Ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see." She explains and I smile, knowing which trick it is. O'Connell walks over to me and I look up from cleaning my mirror.

"Uh, here. This is for you. Go ahead. It's something I borrowed off our American brethren. I thought you might need it for uh.." He trails off, pretending to use a chisel and I smile. O'Connell notices the warden staring at him as he turns to go.

"What are you lookin at?" He asks him and I giggle at how awkward he was. I open the bag to reveal archaeology tools, and I grin.

"Hey, look for bugs. I hate bugs." I hear the warden say before O'Connell repels down into the crevice. After Evy and I are down in the crevice, O'Connell picks up a torch and waves it around.

"Do you realize we're standing inside a room that no one has entered in over 3,000 years?" Evy asks me and I nod, looking around. Jonathon finally reaches the bottom and exclaims.

"Whoo! What is that god-awful stench?" He asks and I stifle a laugh as the warden climbs down and Jonathon realizes it's the warden that smells. Evy walks over and wipes cobwebs off of the mirror and positions it.

"And suddenly there was.." She says and the light bounces off the mirrors, illuminating the room. "Light" She finishes.

"Hey, that's a neat trick." O'Connell remarks, and I gasp after glancing around the room.

"Evy, do you know where we are?" I ask her and she nods smiling.

"Oh my god. It's a sah-netjer." She says, amazed and I nod.

"Huh?" O'Connell mutters, confused.

"A preparation room." Evy elaborates, walking around.

"Preparation for what?" He asks, still confused. I walk up behind him and lean close to his ear.

"For entering the afterlife." I whisper and he takes out his gun, while I laugh loudly before taking out mine.

"Mummies, my good son. This is where they made the mummies." Jonathon explains as O'Connell leads us farther into the crevice, with me behind him, then Evy, then Jon, and the warden trailing behind us. We hear a chittering sound and we all stop.

"What the-? What was that?" Jon asks and I shrug.

"Sounds like.. bugs." O'Connell tells us and Evy relays that to Jon and the warden.

"What do you mean bugs? I hate bugs." The warden whispers and I roll my eyes. We follow the corridor until we reach something in the way.

"The legs of Anubis. The secret compartment should be hidden somewhere inside here." She explains and we hear a faint moaning sound. O'Connell hands Evy the torch and I pass mine to Jon as we both grab our second guns and raise them when the moaning intensifies. O'Connell and I turn the corner, guns raised to find the Americans.

"You scared the bejesus out of us, O'Connell." The blonde admitted.

"Likewise." O'Connell says as they all lower their guns, and I lower mine.

"Hey, that's my tool kit." The American with glasses says, eyes on the bag strapped to my waist and I raise my gun.

"No, I don't think so." O'Connell says as our group points our guns at them.

"Okay, perhaps I was mistaken" He says, backing away and we lower our guns.

"Well, have a nice day gentlemen. We have a lot of work to be getting along with." Evy tries to dismiss them.

"Push off! This is our dig site." The Egyptologist tells her and I raise my guns at him.

"Talk to my sister like that again, and I'll shoot your bloody hat off your damn head." I threaten and he gulps.

"We got here first." Evy defends and everyone raises their guns, mine still aimed at that Egyptologist.

"This here's our statue, friend." An American tells O'Connell.

"I don't see your name written on it, pal." O'Connell retorts.

"Yes, well, there's only five of you.. and fifteen of me. Your odds are not so great, O'Connell." Beni says and I shrug, pointing my guns at him.

"I've had worse." O'Connell and I say in unison.

"Yeah, me too." Jonathon agrees and O'Connell and I look at him, incredulously.

"Oh, look. For goodness' sake, let's be nice children." Evy scolds, walking in front of us and lowering the Americans' guns. I turn to her and give her a look that says 'what are you doing'. "If we're going to play together, we must learn to share. There are other places to dig." She says, enunciating 'other' and I understand, so I put my hand on O'Connell's arm, which causes him to look at me and he lowers his gun. We walk back to the statue of Anubis and O'Connell, Jonathon and I start digging in the ceiling while Evy reads.

"According to these hieroglyphics, we're underneath the statue. We should come up right between his legs." She informs us and I look over smirking at her.

"Oh, really?" I says suggestively and she sputters.

"Really now, Jessica. Get your mind out of the gutter and focus on the task at hand." She scolds me and I mock salute her before going back to work.

"And when those damn yanks go to sleep- no offense-" Jonathon says, apologizing after realizing O'Connell was American.

"None taken." O'Connell accepts the apology.

"We'll dig our way up and steal that book right out from under them." Jonathon explains and O'Connell trades a hammer for a pick ax.

"Are sure you we can find this secret compartment thing?" O'Connell asks, unsure.

"Oh, yes. If those beastly Americans haven't beaten us to it. No offense." Evy apologizes and I roll my eyes.

"None taken." O'Connell accepts again.

"No more American quips, you two. I happen to be growing fond of Americans." I tell them and I see O'Connell smirk beside me.

"Hey, where'd our smelly little friend get to?" Jon asks, noticing that the warden wandered off. We stopped working and Jonathon is playing golf with a hammer and some rocks while Evy and O'Connell were sitting on larger rocks, with me leaning against the large stone piece in the center.

"Let me get this straight. They ripped out your guts, and they stuffed them in jars." He repeats and I nod.

"And then they take out your heart as well. Oh, and you know how they took out your brains?" Evy asks him.

"Evy, I don't think we need to know this." Jon interrupts her but I roll my eyes.

"They'd take a sharp, red-hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about a bit and then rip it all out through your nostrils." I explain, mimicking the process, to O'Connell, who groans at that.

"Oh, that's gotta hurt." He says, touching his nose and I chuckle.

"It's called mummification. You'd be dead when they do this." Evy informs him and I walk over to sit next to O'Connell.

"For the record, if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification." He tells Jonathon and I smirk.

"Likewise." Jon tells him before hitting a rock and causing a giant sarcophagus to fall through the ceiling, landing where I was just standing just a moment before.

"Oh my god. It's a- it's a sarcophagus. Buried at the base of Anubis. He must have been someone of great importance." Evy informs us.

"Or he did something very naughty." I add in before we start brushing the sand away.

"Well, who is it?" Jonathon asks us, and Evy and I read the hieroglyphs.

"'He that shall not be named'" Evy reads and O'Connell blows sand away to reveal a lock of some kind.

"This looks like some kind of lock." O'Connell observes.

"Well, whoever's in here sure wasn't getting out." Jonathon remarks.

"Yeah, no kidding. It'd take us a month to crack this thing without a key." O'Connell agrees.

"A key?" Evy asks out loud and then we look at each other.

"A key!" We say in unison.

"A key! Now that's what he was talking about." Evy rambles and I go and grab Jon's bag.

"Who was talking about what?" O'Connell asks, confused.

"The man on the barge. The one with the hook. He was looking for a key." I explain, opening the box, and walking up next to O'Connell.

"Hey, that's mine." Jonathon objects but I ignore him as I place the key in the lock to see it's a perfect fit, and I smile up at O'Connell, and realize how close we're standing. Then we hear a scream and we hurry out of the tomb, with Jon grabbing the key first, and we run into the corridor to see the warden covering his face, screaming before he runs straight into the wall, killing himself. Evy gasps, and I pull her into a hug as we stare at him, before heading back to camp. We're sitting around the fire after climbing out of the crevice. Jonathon's on the far right, Evy's in the middle, and I'm sitting on her left.

"What do you suppose killed him?" Evy asks us, and I shrug.

"Did you ever see him eat?" Jonathon asks, trying to lighten the mood.

"Seems that our American friends had a little misfortune of their own today. Three of their diggers were, uh, melted." O'Connell informs us as he sits down on my left.

"What?" Evy asks in shock while Jonathon asks "How?"

"Salt acid. Pressurized salt acid. Some kind of ancient booby trap." O'Connell explains.

"Maybe this place really is cursed." Jon suggests as the wind howls and I scoff.

"Oh for goodness' sake you two." Evy scolds as I say "Come on!"and I chuckle at her mothering tone.

"You don't believe in curses, huh?" He asks me, glancing at me as he stokes the fire.

"No, I don't." I tell him and he reaches over, grabbing his elephant gun.

"I believe in being prepared." He tells me and I smirk, grabbing mine from behind me.

"It just so happens, O'Connell, that I do too." I admit, putting the gun back and he smiles slightly.

"Let's see what our friend the warden believed in." Jonathon says as he goes through the warden's bag. After digging through it, he yelps and Evy screams.

"Broken bottle. Glenlivet. Twelve years old! Well, he may have been a stinky fellow, but he had good taste." Jon tells us as he takes a sip. The horses whinny, and O'Connell and I turn at the noise.

"Take this." He gives the gun to Evy as he stands and I stand, taking my two Colt 38's out of their holsters and I hear my siblings argue before following after us. We see riders rush in and start attacking the camp. O'Connell and I start shooting the riders, until my idiot brother is being chased by a rider, and O'Connell, the bigger idiot, tackles the man and takes down his horse. I run out of ammo and start fighting hand-to-hand, which easily got me in trouble because I turn around too late to see an unmanned horse running straight for me and it knocks me into the stone wall, causing me to hit my head, and I slump down, my vision blurring. Next thing I know, O'Connell is above me, pulling me to a sitting position.

"Jessica? Hey. Are you alright?" He asks me, softly and I grimace touching my head and seeing no blood on my fingertips, which is good.

"Damn horse. Yeah, it's just a bump on the head." I tell him and he nods.

"You sure?" He asks and I smile at his concern.

"Thank you." I tell him stepping back but stumbling into his arms. He takes his thumb and carefully moves my head to check for injuries, so gently that it felt very intimate of a gesture.

"See? That proves it. Old Seti's fortune's gotta be under this sand. For them to protect it like this, you just know there's treasure down there." One American, D- something, says.

"No. These men are a desert people. They value water, not gold." O'Connell objects, his arms still around me and a man with shaving cream all over his face walks over.

"You know, uh, maybe just at night, we could, uh, combine forces, hmm?" He suggests and we all agree to it. Evy and Jonathon are sleeping after drinking quite a bit, and O'Connell suggests helping me on my hand-to-hand since that obviously isn't my strong suit.

"Okay, tough stuff, try a right hook." He says chuckling. "Ball up your fist and put it- put it up like that." He instructs and I do as he said.

"Mm-hm" I say, taking position.

"And then mean it, Hit it right here." He tells me and I do that several times before we both decide to sit down by the fire.

"I don't get you." O'Connell says, after a minute and I look at him.

"I know." I reply before "Egypt is in my blood. My father was a famous explorer, he loved Egypt so much he married an Egyptian.. my mother, who was quite the adventurer herself." I inform him.

"Okay, I get your father, I get your mother, I get your sister and I get your brother, but what are you doing here?" He asks me and I smile.

"I'm an adventurer. I'm Jessie Carnahan: Famous Archaeologist! I've always wanted to be like my parents, traveling to exotic places, meeting new people, discovering things lost to history. I guess I'm looking for adventure.. and maybe I'm looking for myself, too." I admit and he smiles. I lean forward, glancing at his lips.

"O'Connell, I'm going to kiss you now." I tell him.

"No you're not." He says and I raise a brow.

"I'm not?" I ask and he smirks.

"Not unless you call me Rick." He explains and I smile.

"Okay, I'm going to kiss you now, _Rick._ " I tell him before leaning forward, our lips pressing together gently, almost cautiously before the kiss deepens and we both pull away, breathless.

"I-um, should go to bed." I stutter, my checks heating up and he chuckles as I go lay down, trying to calm myself down to get some rest.


	4. Chapter 4

In the morning, we all head down to open up the sarcophagus we found, and Evy is positively glowing about this discovery.

"Oh I've dreamt about this since I was a little girl." She says, excitedly as Jonathon, Rick and I prepare to open the sarcophagus.

"You dream about dead guys?" He asks and I stifle a laugh.

"Oh, look. The sacred spells have been chiseled off. This man must have been condemned not only in this life, but the next." Evy explains.

"Tough break." Rick comments, leaning against the sarcophagus.

"Yeah, I'm all tears. Now let's see who's inside, shall we?" Jonathon says as he unlocks the sarcophagus and the three of us open it,and a mummy pops out, causing us all to scream before I start laughing.

"Oh my god, I hate it when these things do that." I complain once I stop laughing.

"Is he supposed to look like that?" Rick asks and I look closely at the mummy.

"No, I've never seen a mummy look like this before. He's still- still-" Evy trails off not finding a word for it.

"Juicy" Jon, Rick and I say in unison.

"Yes. He must be more than 3,000 years old, and well, it looks as if he's still decomposing." Evy informs us.

"Huh. Look at that." Rick says, pointing at the lid. "What do you make of this?" He asks us, I know what it is.

"Bloody hell, these marks were made with.. fingernails." I explain as I run my nails over the marks.

"This man was buried alive." Evy agrees with me. I notice something else on the lid.

"And he left a message. 'Death is only the beginning. Anai will be mine.'" I read out loud and we all look at the mummy. Later, I'm sitting between Rick and Beni by the fire with Jon on the right, while Evy went to study the sarcophagus more.

"Say, O'Connell, what do you think these babies'll fetch back home?" 'Blondie' asks us.

"We hear you boys found yourselves a nice gooey mummy." 'Glasses' says, and I roll my eyes at 'boys'.

"Well congratulations. You know, if you dry that fella out, you might be able to sell him for firewood." 'D-something' says and they all chuckle. I mockingly chuckle and roll my eyes.

"You come up with that all by yourself, there Tie-boy?" I ask him and Rick smirks.

"Look what I found." She says, coming up to the fire and I turn to Beni.

"You're in her seat." I tell him and he chuckles, thinking I'm kidding. "Now." I tell him and he gets up, so Evy can sit down in his seat.

"Scarab skeletons, flesh eaters. I found them inside our friend's coffin. They can stay alive for years feasting on the flesh of a corpse. Unfortunately for our friend, he was still alive when they started eating him." She informs us and I scrunch my nose in disgust.

"So somebody threw these in with our guy, and then they slowly ate him alive?" Rick asks her.

"Very slowly." She confirms.

"Well, he certainly wasn't a popular fellow when they planted him, was he?" Jonathon asks and I smirk.

"Well, he probably got a little too risky with the Pharaoh's daughter." I say, suggestively and Rick smirks at me.

"Well, according to my readings, our friend suffered the Hom-Dai, the worst of all ancient Egyptian curses, one reserved only for the most evil of blasphemers." She explains and I gape.

"I've never heard of the Hom-Dai ever been performed." I tell her and she nods in agreement.

"That bad, huh?" Rick asks and I nod.

"Yeah, they never used it because they feared it. It's written that if a victim of the Hom-Dai should ever arise, he would bring with him the ten plagues of Egypt." I explain to everyone. We all go to sleep, that is, until I hear my sister sneaking around, and I sit up, opening my eyes.

"That's called stealing, you know." Rick tells her, as he opens his eyes.

"According to you and my brother, it's called borrowing." She retorts as she grabs the key and I smirk.

"I thought the book of Amun-Ra was made of gold." Rick comments as we both kneel on either side of Evy.

"It is made out of gold. This isn't the book of Amun-Ra. This is something else. I think this might be the Book of the Dead." She informs him as she opens the key.

"The Book of the Dead? Are you sure you want to be playing around with this thing?" Rick asks her and I nod.

"It's got 'Dead' for a title, Eves. And it has a lock. If it's got a lock, it might be there for a reason." I warn her, worried.

"It's just a book." Evy dismisses, placing the key in the lock and twisting. "No harm ever came from reading a book." She says as the book unlocks. As soon as she opens it, the wind howls loudly.

"That happens a lot around here." Rick comments and I smirk.

"So, what's it say?" I ask her, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"'Amun-Ra. Amun-Dei.' It speaks of the night and the day." She says before reading in ancient Egyptian. Suddenly there's a loud roar.

"No! You must not read from the book!" The Egyptologist yells, and the wind whistles. We see a dark cloud and hear bugs chittering.

"Run!" Someone yells and Rick grabs my hand, and I don't have time to marvel in how well they fit together as we run away from the bugs. We run into the crevice and through the corridors to a bridge like structure and Jonathon, Evy and Rick jump onto a pillar while I jump onto a separate platform and the wall I was leaning on turns, taking me to a different room. I see Glasses and I sigh, relieved.

"Glasses. Thank god. I was starting to get worried, not scared, worried. I lost everyone.." I trail off as he turns and there are gaping holes where his eyes were. I gasp and turn around and come face-to-face with the mummy and I scream as it roars. I back up until I hit the wall, stepping into the light.

"Please... help me." I beg Glasses as he tries to crawl away. "Please don't leave me." I beg but the mummy turns back to me and I gasp.

" _Anai?"_ The mummy whispers. I start moving to the other side of the room as the mummy walks closer, but he follows.

" _Come with me my princess, Anai"_ He says in Ancient Egyptian, extending his hand and I press further into the wall.

"There you are! Will you quit playing hide-and-seek?" Rick exclaims as he runs into the room and grabs my hand. "Come on. Let's get out of here." He says before turning and seeing the mummy. He screams as the mummy approaches.

"Jessie?" I hear my brother call out and the mummy turns just as Jonathon hurries in, dropping his torch at the sight of the mummy. It roars at Rick and he yells back, shooting it before we run away.

"Move!" He yells and we run.

"Yeah, right. Did you see that? It was walking. It was walking!" Jonathon exclaims. We run out of the temple, only to be faced with the men in black from the night before.

"I told you to leave or die. You refused. Now you may have killed us all, for you have unleashed a creature that we have feared for more than 3,000 years." The leader tells us, and I see Evy staring at him like a teenage girl with a crush and I sigh, deciding to deal with that later.

"Relax. I got him." Rick tells them.

"No mortal weapon can kill this creature. He's not of this world." The leader says and they bring Glasses, who's moaning in pain.

"You bastards." Tie-boy says.

"What did you do to him?" Blondie asks and I scoff.

"They saved him! The mummy did that, not them. It probably would have done more." I defend the men in black and the leader looks at me curiously, almost like he recognizes me.

"Now leave, all of you, quickly, before he finishes you all." He warns us before speaking in Arabic. "I must now go on the hunt and try and find a way to kill him." The leader explains.

"I already told you, I got him." Rick tells him again, which causes the leader to turn back to us.

"Know this. This creature is the bringer of death. He will never eat, he will never sleep and he will never stop." The man tells us before he leaves. We head back to the fort, I change into a white shirt, tan corset, tan trousers and brown boots before Rick comes up to my room, and he seems worried.

"I thought you said you didn't believe in that fairy tales and hokum stuff." He says, carrying my clothes out of the closet and Evy grabs her cat, Sphinx, before he shoves her off the suitcase so he can pack my stuff.

"Having an encounter with a 3,000 year old walking, talking corpse does tend to convert one." I tell him as I take the clothes out of the suitcase and put it back in the closet while he grabs my delicates out of the drawers.

"Well, forget it. We're out the door, we're down the hall, and we're gone." He announces as he deposits my delicates into the suitcase.

"Oh, no we are not." I argue, grabbing my delicates and putting them back in the drawer.

"Oh, yes we are." He argues back and I put my hands on my hips.

"No we are not. We woke him up and we are going to stop him." I inform him as he grabs the books from the dresser and puts them in the suitcase.

"'We?' What 'we'? We didn't read that book. I told you two not to play around with that thing. Didn't I tell you not to play around with that thing?" He asks me and Evy giggles from her spot on the bed and I glare at her.

"Alright, 'we' as in Evy and I. We woke him up and at least I intend to stop him." I amend.

"Oh yeah? How? You heard the man. No mortal weapons can kill this guy." He reminds me and I sigh.

"Then we are just going to have to find some immortal ones." I tell him, as I keep unpacking what he packs.

"There goes that 'we' again." He comments.

"Will you just listen to me? We have to do-" I explain, closing the suitcase on his fingers, but not feeling sympathetic about his pain. "Once this creature has been reborn, his curse is going to spread until the whole of the Earth is destroyed." I inform him, knowing this because Evy and I researched it.

"Yeah? And is that my problem?" He retorts and I scoff.

"Well, it is everybody's problem." I tell him, going back to my suitcase.

"Jessica, I appreciate you saving my life and all, but when I signed on, I agreed to take you out there and bring you back. And I have done that. End of job. End of story. Contract terminated." He says as we walk around the suitcase and the meaning of his words hits me, and I can't hide the hurt on my face.

"That's all I am to you? A contract?" I ask, my voice breaking with emotion, and I see the instant regret on his face when he realizes what he said and how much it hurt me.

"Look, You can either tag along with me, or you can stay here and try and save the world! What's it gonna be?" He asks me and I cover my hurt with anger.

"I'm staying." I insist.

"Fine!" He exclaims, heading for the door, and I throw my hands up.

"Fine." I agree and I watch him walk out of my room before letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Evy rushes over to me and pulls me into a hug.

"We kissed, last night. This one _was_ a great kiss, and now I find out I'm just a contract to him?" I ask, sadly, feeling a tear streak down my face.

"He didn't mean that. He's just worried about you, Jessie. Give him time." She reassures me and I nod.

"So, you and that man in black, huh?" I ask, pushing my hurt aside and she blushes. The next morning,

I change into a white top, black corset, dark gray trousers and black boots. Evy and I take a walk as she reads through several books, trying to find a weapon. I hear thunder and glance up quickly.

"Oh, Jessica!" Rick calls out and I roll my eyes.

"Mister O'Connell." Evy replies politely.

"Oh, so you're still here." I bite out, sounding hurt and angry and he chuckles humorlessly.

"We've got problems." He tells me but before he can elaborate the thunder gets louder and flaming meteors rain down. Rick grabs my arm and pulls me away, with Evy not too far behind. We are in front of a staircase and I see Beni, so I take all my anger at Rick and I put it to use, grabbing him and shoving the weasel against the wall.

"Beni, you little stinkweed. Where you been?" Rick asks him, but before Beni can respond, we hear a loud roar, causing Beni to run away, and Rick and I to take out our guns before we head up the stairs. We walk into Glasses's room to see him all dried up in a chair, and the mummy in front of the fireplace, healing somewhat.

"We are in serious trouble." Rick says and we both shoot the mummy, but it doesn't do anything. Jonathon, Blondie and Tie-boy rush in to the room at the sound of gunshots, taking out their guns and shooting as well. The mummy tosses Rick and he lands on top of them, before turning to us.

" _You saved me from the undead. I thank you."_ The mummy says in Ancient Egyptian to Evy before I push her away, towards the door, and I'm backed up against the bookshelf, with sand restraints keeping me there.

" _Anai. My love.."_ He says to me, and leans forward, causing me to whimper, turning my head, and then Sphinx jumps on the piano keyboard, scaring the mummy into turning to sand, flying away and releasing me. Once he's gone I exhale shakily and shudder.

"We are in _very_ serious trouble." Rick amends his previous statement and I throw a book at him.

"I had absolutely no idea, _O'Connell_." I retort and he flinches at his last name. We head to the Cairo Museum to talk to the curator.

"He does seem to like you, Jessie." Jonathon comments and I glare at him.

"Yeah, what's that about?" Rick asks.

"There's only one person I know that can possibly give us any answers." She says as we walk in to his office to see that man in black with the curator.

"You?" Evy asks, but it's in a soft, gentle way.

"Miss Carnahan and Miss Carnahan. Gentlemen." The curator greets.

"What is he doing here?" Evy asks, no malice in her voice.

"Do you really want to know, or would you prefer to just shoot us?" He asks and the men lower their weapons.

"After what I just saw, I'm willing to go on a little faith here." Rick answers. We walk in the office, Rick and Blondie in matching chairs across from each other, Jonathon sitting on a chariot, Tie-boy standing on Rick's left, Evy standing on the man in black's right and I'm leaning against the wall, surveying the exits, and occasionally looking a Rick.

"We are part of an ancient society. For over 3,000 years we have guarded the City of the Dead. We're sworn at manhood to do any and all in our part to stop the High Priest Imhotep from being reborn into this world." The curator informs us.

"And now, because of you, we have failed." The man in black interrupts.

"And you think this justifies the killing of innocent people?" Evy asks them, innocently.

"To stop this creature? Let me think." he says and both he and the man in black answer "Yes."

"Question- Why doesn't he like cats?" Rick asks, raising his hand like a student would.

"Cats are the guardians of the underworld. He will fear them until he is fully regenerated." The curator explains.

"And then he will fear nothing." The man in black tells us and I start to pace, twirling my compass in my hand.

"Yeah and you know how he gets hisself fully regenerated?" Tie-boy asks.

"By killing everyone who opened that chest." Blondie answers, seeming at peace with it.

"And suckin' em dry! That's how." Tie-boy exclaims.

"Jonathon, will you stop playing with that." Evy scolds Jon, who was playing with a bow.

"When I saw him alive at Hamunaptra, he called me Anai." I inform them, speaking for the first time since Glasses's room. "And then, just now in Glass- Mr. Burns' quarters, he tried to kiss me." I explain.

"It's because of his love for Anai that he was cursed. Apparently after 3,000 years-" The curator says.

"He's still in love with her." The man in black finishes.

"That's very romantic and all, but what's it got to do with me?" I ask and they turn to each other.

"Princess Anai was the Pharaoh's eldest daughter. Imhotep fell in love with her, and he professed his love to her but she was in love with Raia, the leader of the Medjai, the Pharaoh's personal guards. Imhotep became jealous and thought if he got Seti and Raia out of the way, he could be with her. So, he convinced the Pharaoh's mistress, Anck-su-namun to help him kill the Pharaoh. Once the Pharaoh was dead, Anai became Queen because she was still unmarried, and she sentenced him to the Hom-Dai, and once they married, her husband issued the Medjai to protect Imhotep so he was never woken." The Medjai tells me and I sigh.

"Okay, but why me?" I ask and the curator opens a drawer, pulling out a piece of papyrus.

"This is an drawing of Princess Anai and Raia, after they were married." He says showing me the painting and I stare at the scroll, in shock.

"Bloody Hell." I whisper and Evy walks over.

"What?" She asks and gasps when she sees it. I turn the parchment and show the others the painting of two people who lived 3,000 years ago, but look exactly like me and Rick, only they're wearing ancient Egyptian clothing and her hair is darker, and straighter than mine.

"This isn't real. How can we look exactly like them?" I ask, my voice wavering.

"You are the reincarnations of Anai and Raia. You must be here because Imhotep was meant to be awoken. You are meant to stop him. If not, he will try to kill Raia's reincarnation, Mister O'Connell, and merge your souls to bring Anai back to life." The curator tells me and I laugh humorlessly.

"Bloody perfect. A 3,000 year old mummy is obsessed with me. This merging my souls thing..." I trail off as I see their faces.

"It's a human sacrifice. You will die and Anai will take your place in your body." The Medjai explains and my eyes widen.

"Bad luck, old mum." Jonathon says, but I can see all of the worry on his face. I spare a glimpse at Rick and he looks terrified.

"On the contrary, it may just give us the time we need to kill the creature." The curator disagrees with Jonathon.

"We will need all the help we can get. His powers are growing." The Medjai says and we all look up at the skylight to see the moon block out the sun.

"And he stretched forth his hand towards the heavens, and there was darkness throughout the land of Egypt." Jonathon recites and we hurry back to the fort. I'm pacing in the room, while Jon and Tie-boy are sitting at the table, and Blondie and Evy are standing, and Rick is by the window.

"We must stop him from regenerating. Who opened that chest?" Evy asks the Americans.

"Well, there was me and Daniels, here. Oh, and Burns of course." Blondie tells us.

"And that Egyptologist feller." Tie-boy adds in.

"What about my buddy Beni?" Rick asks them from his spot by the window.

"No, he scrammed outta there 'fore we opened the damn thing." Tie-boy explains.

"Yeah, he was the smart one." Blondie agrees.

"Well, yeah, that sounds like Beni." Rick comments.

"We must find the Egyptologist and bring him back to the safety of the fort before the creature can get to him." I inform the others, stopping my pacing.

"Right." Rick agrees and I smile. "She and Evelyn stay here. You three come with me." He says to the men and I scoff as everyone else protests.

"Just a minute. You can't just leave me behind like some old carpetbag." Evy protests and I nod.

"I'm not being left behind. Damn the contract. I am fully capable of protecting myself and I'm not being coddled. I'm no damsel in distress. Rick, you can't force me to stay. Who put you in charge?" I ask him walking over to him before he picks me up over his shoulder.

"O'Connell, what the hell? Jonathon? Rick!" I exclaim as he takes me into my room, with Evy close behind, and throws me on the bed.

"Coward that you are! You are not leaving me in here!" I yell, running to the door, and banging on it. "Rick! Open this door right now! Jonathon! Someone open up or I'll-" I yell, but I hear them talking.

"This door doesn't open. She doesn't come out, and no one goes in, right?" Rick threatens.

"Right." I hear Tie-boy say, dumbstruck and Blondie repeats it. I yell and pound on the door until Evy grabs me and leads me to the bed, calming me down. I change into a black nightgown quickly fall asleep, while Evy sleeps on the left side, I'm on the right. I dream about Anai and Raia, until I feel a pressure on my mouth and open my eyes to see Imhotep kissing me, his mouth still mummified, causing me to scream. The door is kicked open and Rick rushes in with Jonathon.

"Hey! Get your ugly face off my girl!" Rick yells and Imhotep turns to them while I scramble out of bed, falling to the floor.

" _Raia. She will be mine and you can not stop me._ " Imhotep growls in Ancient Egyptian.

"Look what I got." Rick says holding up Sphinx and Imhotep shrieks turning into sand, which makes me cry out, and he flies out the window. I gag as I roughly wipe my lips, still feeling his dead mouth on mine.

"You alright?" He asks me.

"Well, I'm not sure." My brother answers, causing Evy to hit him while I stand up.

"You get kissed by 3,000 year old mummy in your sleep and tell me how bloody 'alright' you are." I comment before wiping my mouth again in disgust. "I'm never going to get rid of the feeling of his dead mouth.." I exclaim in disgust.

"Are you okay, really? No sarcastic answers." Rick asks me and I nod, smiling slightly.

"Yeah. And by the way, you're a much better kisser." I tell him before grabbing my robe, but pausing by the door.

"You called me 'your girl'." I remember and Rick scratches the back of his head.

"Yeah.." He says, and I smile.

"I'm glad I'm not a just a contract, Rick." I tell him and he smiles before I walk out.

"What the hell is she talking about?" I hear Jonathon ask Evy and I smirk.


	5. Chapter 5

We get to the Cairo Museum and Evy and I are still wearing our nightgowns, as we walk up the stairs. Mine is black with white lace on the bust, while hers is white with pale pink lace on the bust with matching robes, and I'm wearing the black boots the villagers gave me while Evy's wearing a pair of white strapped heels.

"Yes, well, according to legend, the black book that the Americans found at Hamunaptra is supposed to bring people back from the dead. Until now it was a notion I was unwilling to believe." Evy informs us as we walk behind the Medjai, whose name Evy found out is Ardeth, and the curator.

"Believe it sister. That's what brought our buddy back to life." Rick retorts.

"Yes, and I'm thinking that if the black book can bring dead people back to life-" Evy begins.

"Then maybe the gold book can kill him." I finish.

"That's the myth. Now we just need to find out where the gold book is hidden." Evy confirms as we reach the top of the stairs. We hear chanting look out the window to see a crowd of hundreds of people in a zombie like state, all chanting 'Imhotep'.

"Last but not least, my favorite plague- boils and sores." Jonathon says sarcastically.

"They have become his slaves." Ardeth tells us. "So it has begun, the beginning of the end."

"Oh, hell no. I'm not anyone's bloody human sacrifice." I mutter, walking away from the window, toward a large piece of stone.

"According to Bembridge Scholars, the golden Book of Amun-Ra is located inside the statue of Anubis." Evy translates.

"That's where we found the black book." Daniels interjects and I scoff.

"Bembridge was mistaken.." I mutter before I exclaim "Fat lot of help they are!" running my hands through my hair and taking a deep breath.

"Yes, they mixed up books up. Mixed up where they were buried. So if the black book is inside the statue of Anubis, then the golden book must be inside-" Evy says, translating the stone, before we hear a bang and shouting.

"Come on, Evy. Faster." Jonathon encourages her.

"Patience is a virtue." She chimes in, still translating.

"No it isn't! Don't use a mum line right now! I'm about to be carried off to die!" I exclaim, irritated.

"Uh, I think I'll go get the car started." Jonathon says as he runs down the hallway.

"I've got it. The golden Book of Amun-Ra is at Hamunaptra inside the statue of Horus." She translates and I throw a fist in the air.

"Take that Bembridge Scholars! Shows you for rejecting my sister! Idiots!" I exclaim happily and we all run out to the car. Beni sees us leaving and alerts Imhotep, who calls his army.

"You're gonna get yours, Beni! You hear me? You're gonna get yours!" Rick calls before he sits down as the car drives away, with the army chasing us. We stop because there's a giant crowd in the street, blocking the exit. Rick slams his foot on the gas, and Jonathon's foot.

"Aah!" He cries out as the car drives straight into the mob. Several of them hang on the car and we have to fight them off.

"I'm glad you taught me hand-to-hand!" I call out to Rick and see him smile as I punch a 'zombie' in the face and he flies off the car, knocking another one down. During the fighting, two 'zombies' grab Daniels and drag him out of the car.

"O'Connell! O'Connell!" He yells as he's dragged out. Soon after, we crash into some kind of stone basin and get out of the car, cornered by the army who keep chanting, 'Imhotep'. The army parts, and a man in black robes walks through the center, with Beni trailing behind him.

"It's the creature. He's fully regenerated." The curator informs us. Imhotep speaks in Ancient Egyptian as he walks toward us, and Rick pulls me behind him.

"Come with me, my princess. It is time to make you mine forever." Beni translates for the others.

"'For all eternity', idiot." Evy corrects and I glare at her.

"Not like it matters, Eves! Neither of those options sound good!" I exclaim, scared. Imhotep says something else and extends his hand.

"'Take my hand, and I will spare your friends.'" Beni translates and Rick scoffs.

"Bloody Hell.. Have you got any bright ideas?" I ask, glancing at Rick.

"I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'." He assures me and I shut my eyes briefly as I decide what I'm going to do.

"You better think of something fast, because if he turns me into a mummy, you're the first one I'm coming after." I tell him, before stepping forward, taking Imhotep's hand.

"No." Rick pleads, taking out his gun, pointing it at Imhotep and I turn around quickly.

"Don't!" I exclaim while Ardeth grabs his arm saying "No!"

"He still has to take me to Hamunaptra to perform the ritual." I explain to him, and I glance at Evy and Jon to see them tearing up.

"She is right. Live today, fight tomorrow." Ardeth tells Rick and he puts his gun away. I break away from Imhotep and step forward, leaning up to whisper in Rick's ear.

"If you don't make it in time, don't let him have me- her- whatever. Okay?" I beg and he nods, his brilliant eyes shining, before I feel a tear slide down my cheek. I lean forward and lightly kiss him goodbye, which causes a roar to escape Imhotep and he yanks me backwards away from Rick and I choke out a sob.

"I'll be seeing you again." He tells Imhotep, as more of a threat than a statement, before I'm led away from my siblings, and the man I've fallen in love with.

"Jessica!" Rick calls and I look back to see Ardeth holding him back.

" _Kill them all!"_ Imhotep commands in Ancient Egyptian and struggle against him, trying to run back.

"NO! Let go of me! Jon! Evy! Let go of me! RICK!" I yell, my heart breaking as I see the crowd get closer to where everyone I love is standing, about to be killed and I sob in despair. Imhotep turns himself into a tornado made of sand to transport us and he regains his shape, holding me close so I don't go flying like Beni did when we landed. I break away from him as soon as we land on the ground.

"Oh my god. We're back." I mutter, realizing Rick might not make it in time to save me. I hear a buzzing and look up to see a yellow airplane flying towards Hamunaptra, causing me to smile.

"O'Connell." I say, grinning at the plane before I hear a growl come from Imhotep. He roars and creates a giant cloud of sand that heads straight for the plane, with a face appearing and the mouth trying to swallow the plane.

"Stop it! You'll kill them!" I exclaim, fear drenching my words.

"That's the idea." Beni summarizes and I shove him to the side, glancing at the plane before sighing.

"I'm so going to regret this." I mutter before grabbing Imhotep's face and kissing him to distract him from Rick and the others, turning him around so I can watch the plane and so he can't. The sand falls and the plane is fine so I break apart with a grin, watching the plane, but my grin falls when the engine catches fire and it crashes behind the dunes and I drop to my knees, sobbing.

"I love the whole sand wall trick. It was beautiful. These bastards." Beni praises. Imhotep roughly drags me to my feet and pulls me towards Hamunaptra, but I'm numb as I silently cry, mourning for my older brother, my baby sister, her love, and the man I love.

"I didn't even tell him." I whisper brokenly, and Beni almost looks sympathetic for a minute, but regains his cold exterior. We follow Imhotep into the temple, with Beni pointing a gun at my back.

"Keep moving!" He tells me, shoving the gun in my back, and I sniffle.

"You know, nasty little weasels like you always get theirs." I inform him and he chuckles before sobering up when he realizes I'm serious.

"They do?" He asks worriedly and I nod.

"Oh, yes. _Always_." I assure him coldly before walking ahead. We're standing off to the side while Imhotep prepares the ritual when we hear a gun shot and I grin relieved that they're alive.

"Rick." I say happily and Imhotep pour dust into his hand, blows it towards the wall, chants in Ancient Egyptian and two mummies come out of the wall.

"Bet the Bembridge Scholars never wrote about this, Eves." I mutter, despite knowing she isn't here.

" _Kill them and wake the others."_ Imhotep commands and they leave. Next thing I know, I wake up chained to a stone stable, in just my nightgown. As I'm testing the shackles, I hear squeaking and I glance down to see rats walking on my abdomen so I turn over to get them off, only to come face-to-face with a mummy, apparently of Anai, and I gasp. Imhotep begins the incantation and a black mist comes out of the black water and goes into the mummy. The mummy wakes up screeching causing me to scream as it looks at me, and I turn to see Imhotep with a dagger, standing over me.

"With your death, Anai shall live. And I shall be invincible!" He says in Ancient Egyptian and I watch as he raises the dagger preparing to stab me and I scream again.

"The Book of Amun-Ra! I found it, Jessie! I found it!" I hear Jonathon call out and Imhotep speaks in Ancient Egyptian.

"Shut up and get me off here, Jonathon! Open the book, Jonathon. It's the only way to kill him. You have to open the book and find the inscription." I yell from the table.

"Well, I can't open it. It's locked or something. We need the key! Jess!" He yells back after looking at the cover.

"It's inside his robes." I call over, and see Jonathon run out of the room, with Imhotep following him. Rick runs over with a sword, cutting one of the chains that holds my hand.

"O'Connell!" I exclaim, smiling and he fights off the other mummies with the sword, while I try to get out of the other shackle.

"Mummies." He scoffs before moving to cut my shackle, but he's dragged to the floor by a legless mummy and he can't reach his sword. Another mummy grabs his neck, locking him in place.

"Look out. There's one down- O'Connell!" I gasp as I see a mummy carrying a large stone slab over to where Rick is being held. I struggle with my shackle, and with my good hand, I a hairpin from my hair and pick the lock, hop off the table, grabbing the sword and cutting the mummy's legs off. The stone slab falls on the mummy, crushing it and we get rid of the other mummy.

"Where's Evy?" I ask Rick and he takes a breath.

"With Jonathon." He tells me and I nod. He grabs my hand and we head for the exit only for it to be blocked by mummies with shields and spears.

"Jonathon, you idiot!" I yell as we see them come in and he looks embarrassed, while Evy looks happy I'm alive.

"Oh, yeah. This just keeps getting' better and better." Rick says sarcastically.

"Do something Jon." I tell him.

"Me?" He asks, incredulously and I roll my eyes.

"You can command them." Evy and I tell him in unison.

"You have got to be joking." He mutters and Evy sighs, grabbing the book from him.

"If we finish the inscription on the cover, then we can control them, idiot." Evy explains and I chuckle.

"Couldn't have said it better myself, little sister." I tell her as I take my knife out of my thigh holster and get into a fighting stance while they run off to finish it. Suddenly the mummy grabs me, screeching as she swings the dagger at me and I gasp backing up. Imhotep yells a command to the mummy warriors and they attack Rick. He fights them while I fight off the mummy of Anai as 'she' shrieks, chasing me and stabbing at me.

"Hurry up, Evy, Jonathon!" I call out as I catch 'her' arm and shove 'her' backwards. I notice Rick on the stairs, about to be killed.

"Rick!" I cry out, worried. Suddenly the warriors stop and turn towards where I am, heading straight for Anai, ripping her to pieces. I run over to where Jonathon and Evy are to see Rick being tossed around by Imhotep.

"Keep him busy!" Evy yells to him and I glare at her. Imhotep throws him against a pillar and he groans.

"No problem." He tells her sarcastically as Evy opens the book, finding the inscription.

"Hurry, Evy, hurry!" I beg her, watching Imhotep grab Rick by his neck, choking him.

"You're not helping." She chimes in as she looks for the incantation. "Oh, I've got it! Kadeesh mal, Kadeesh mal. Para doos, Para doos!" She chants and a blue chariot appears and Imhotep chases after it before picking up a sword.

"I thought you said it was going to kill him." Rick says to Evy as Imhotep walks towards us, I step in front of Rick, and a blade hitting flesh is heard. I look down to see my knife sticking out of Imhotep's heart, blood trickling all over my hands.

"He's mortal." Evy informs us and he looks at me as I pull the blade out and he staggers back towards the black water, looking at me, betrayal on his face.

" _Death is only the beginning. You will be mine, Anai."_ Imhotep promises me in Ancient Egyptian before falling apart and Evy translates for the men. The stone doors start closing so we run back to the treasure room, and Jonathon pauses.

"Couldn't we just-" He asks and Evy and I grab him.

"No!" We yell, pulling him to the door, crawling through. We hear Beni yelling for help, and Rick reaches out for him but has to pull his hand back just before the door closes. "Good-bye, Beni." He tells his friend, before I grab his hand we all run out of the temple, into the ruins where pillars begin fallin all around us. We make it back to the desert before the whole city collapses, watching as it disappears. A hand touches Jonathon's shoulder and he screams, causing all of us to scream, and we turn to see Ardeth on a camel.

"Oh! Thank you. Thank you very much." Jonathon tells him sarcastically.

"You have earned the respect and gratitude of me and my people." He tells us, glancing at Evy before looking back to us.

"Yes, well, it was- it was nothing." Jonathon tells him, and I roll my eyes.

"May Allah smile upon you always." He tells us and I sigh, glancing at my sister, who looks sadly at her feet.

"Ardeth, wait!" I exclaim and he stops. I walk over to Evy, grab her hand and bring her over.

"If we've earned your peoples' respect, then are you able to be together?" I ask and he nods.

"I'm a leader of the Medjai, so I am allowed to marry if I choose." He explains and I smile at my little sister.

"Stay. Be with him." I encourage her and she smiles, throwing her arms around me and I smile, hugging her tightly before letting her go. Ardeth helps her onto the camel, smiling at her.

"You better take care of my baby sister." I warn him and I look at her. "And you better write whenever you can!" I tell her and she nods, giggling before they ride off.

"Stay out of trouble." Rick calls after them and I smile, watching my little sister go.

"They're just leaving us here. Well I guess we go home empty handed.. again." Jonathon complains, chuckling humorlessly.

"I wouldn't say that." Rick replies and I turn to him, grinning.

"You wouldn't, huh?" I ask him, biting my lip and I hear Jonathon scoff.

"Oh please." He mutters, turning away.

"Yeah." Rick answers before leaning down, placing his lips on mine. I kiss him back as he rests a hand on my arm and I place my hands on his chest, grabbing his shirt and pulling him to me. We break apart and he touches our noses together in an adorable gesture that makes me giggle. We get on a camel, with me on Rick's lap, Jonathon on his own camel, and Rick and I share another kiss as we make out way back to Cairo and 'riding off into the sunset'.


	6. Chapter 6- Fluff:)

_**1 Month after Hamunaptra...**_

 _I'm standing in my room at the Fort, staring at my reflection. My long, dark brown hair is in an ornate up do, with pearls threaded in it. I'm wearing a pair of my mother's pearl earrings, and a single strand pearl necklace at the base of my throat. My dress is an ivory lace dress with a lower neckline, showing a bit more cleavage than I'm used to, with the back being held together by a strand of pearls with another strand falling along my back and it reaches my feet. I'm even wearing a pair of ivory sandals and I have a bouquet of Egyptian lilies. I hear a knock on the door and turn to see my little sister, Evelyn, who's wearing a beautiful purple gown with an Egyptian lily in her hair, and my older brother, Jonathon, in his nice tux, walk in, quickly shutting the door behind them before taking me in._

" _Oh, Jessie! You look beautiful!" Evy exclaims, grinning, and I smile shyly._

" _Really? It's not too much?" I ask, nervously smoothing the lacy material._

" _Look at this, my little sister, on her wedding day! You look gorgeous, Jess." He tells me, grabbing my hand and squeezing it, reassuringly, and I smile gratefully._

" _I'm ready." I inform them and Evy walks out, since she's my maid of honor, and my only bridesmaid. Jon holds out his arm and I take it, smiling, nervous and excited, at the same time. Jonathon is walking me down the aisle since my father can't. He was so happy when I asked him, I think I saw a tear. We walk to the doors leading to the outside plaza and I take a deep breath before the doors open and we walk out. Rick is standing at a makeshift gazebo in the sand, wearing a new tux, with Ardeth next to him, in his black Medjai robes as his best man. Jonathon and I walk down the aisle as music is played and I see Rick's eyes pool with tears and I laugh a watery laugh as I feel a happy tear fall down my cheek. We finally reach him and Jon kisses my cheek before standing next to Ardeth, and I take Rick's hand, standing next to Evy. We both turn to Ardeth, who is officiating the ceremony and he smiles at us._

" _My friends, we are here because Rick and Jessie want to confirm their love in front of friends and family. Their love was first formed in their past lives as Raia and Anai, 3,000 years ago, and thus makes it everlasting. I understand that your marriage ceremonies are different than the Medjai ceremonies, so you two have decided to say a few words to each other before we continue with the traditional vows. Rick?" He tells everyone and Rick smiles at me, nervously._

" _Jessie, when I first met you, I was in prison about to be hanged, and you walked in, with your vibrant green eyes and you changed my whole world. You are sarcastic, stubborn, reckless, and you are fiercely protective of the people you love, and I'm so lucky to be one of those people. You are completely beautiful, inside and out, and I love every part of you. I'm amazed at the fact that I have you. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, on one giant adventure." He says, and I feel tears stream down my face as I smile at his heartfelt vows._

" _Rick, I don't know how to put into words how much I love you, but I'm going to try. You know I'm not the best at putting my feelings into beautiful words like you can, but you are the kindest, most compassionate man I've ever met and you never back down from anything, and you are just as stubborn as me, which is a talent. I liked you immediately, and I wasn't going to admit it easily, but you somehow got me to let down these walls I constructed after my parents died, and I fell in love with you. I can't wait to be your wife and to have amazing adventures with you. You make me feel whole, and before I met you, I was moving from one place to another, trying to find the next greatest discovery, thinking that was what I was missing, but it was you all along." I tell him, and he grins, a tear falling down his cheek and I wipe it away. I hear a sniffle and see Evy wiping away a few tears with a handkerchief and I smile._

" _Rick, repeat after me. With this ring, I give you my heart, I promise from this day forward, you shall not walk alone, may my heart be your shelter and my arms be your home." Ardeth instructs and Rick smiles, taking a golden band and slipping it onto my left ring finger._

" _With this ring, I give you my hear, I promise from this day forward, you shall not walk alone, may my heart be your shelter and my arms be your home." He repeats and I grin, and turn to get his band from Evy, facing him again._

" _With this ring, I give you my heart, I promise from this day forward, you shall not walk alone, may my heart be your shelter and my arms be your home." I repeat, slipping his golden band on his left ring finger, and I squeeze his hand with mine._

" _You both are now husband and wife. Congratulations, my friends. You may now kiss your bride, Rick." He informs him and we both grin as Rick leans down and his lips touch mine, his arms wrapping around my waist. We hear our friends cheering and I laugh after we break apart._

" _I love you, Mrs. O'Connell." He whispers, smiling at me and I smile back._

" _And I love you, Mr. O'Connell." I reply, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss._

 _ **2 month after the wedding.**_

 _After the wedding, Rick and I bought an amazing house in London, and I'm completely in love with it! It's down the street from the Museum, where I work most of the time we aren't on adventures. I've been sick for the past 2 weeks and Rick's been worried about me possibly having caught something on one of our recent adventures, so after 14 days of throwing up at all hours, I went to a doctor and I definitely caught something... just not what I was expecting._

" _Congratulations, Mrs. O'Connell. You're pregnant. About 6-8 weeks, I'd say." The doctor told me and I admit, I sat there for a good 5 minutes before I processed what she said. I went home and told Rick immediately, although not in the way I had planned out in my head.._

" _Honey? Were you listening? Jess, you alright?" He asks me, from the other side of the room, where he's preparing for our next expedition, to South America._

" _I'm pregnant." I blurt out and then put my head in my hands. I hear paper rustling and his heavy footsteps as he walks over to me and carefully moves my hands from my face._

" _What?" He whispers, almost in disbelief. I look up and can't read what he's thinking so I sigh._

" _I'm pregnant, Rick. We're going to be parents." I tell him and his face breaks out into the biggest grin I've only ever seen when we've made a huge find. I can't help but match his grin as his eyes shine._

" _Parents." He repeats shakily and he engulfs me in a tight hug and I laugh in joy. I decided to write my sister immediately with the news._

 _Dear Evy,_

 _I've received some shocking, and amazing news from the doctor: Rick and I are expecting a child! I'm still in shock, if I'm honest, but the best kind. Who knew that I'd become a wife and mother, me, as free spirited and reckless as I was? Rick is thrilled, he's been coddling me constantly, and as annoying as it can get, I love that he's as excited about this baby as I am! Jonathon was speechless when I told him during his visit. I do wish you were here, though little sister, because I'm surrounded by men and I could definitely use a woman's advice. Enough about me, in your recent letter, you and Ardeth were married! How wonderful, Eves! I'm so thrilled that the two of you are happy, and please remind him of my strongly worded promise about taking care of you! Please write soon, I'm eager to hear from you and your new husband, and I hope you can get away from the Medjai for a visit before your niece or nephew is born! Rick and I miss you both more and more everyday, and I wish you the best, Mrs. Bay!_

 _Your loving big sister,_

 _Jessie O'Connell_

 _ **5 months pregnant**_

" _Jessie, you aren't going." Rick informs me as he stands in the foyer with Jonathon and Ardeth while Evy is standing beside me, looking nervous, as I stand with my arms crossed. I'm wearing a pale blue blouse that shows my swollen belly, and tan trousers with brown knee high boots._

" _Rick.. I have to go. I've been preparing for this dig in South America for months! I can't sit this one out." I object and he shakes his head, walking forward and putting his hands on my arms._

" _Jessica, you're pregnant. No way am I letting you go, putting you and our child in danger." He argues and I sigh, running a hand through my hair._

" _Jess, he's right. We're going and we'll be extremely thorough. We won't miss a thing." Jon assures me and I frown._

" _But I'll miss everything. I've never stayed put for long like this. I used to be always moving from one dig to another." I admit, my voice breaking and tears pooling, causing Rick to wince._

" _That's why I'm here! It'll be a girls week, we'll catch up and you can show me the museum, including what you're working on. I'll catch you up on what I've been doing in Cairo. It'll be fun." Evy prompts and I smile, knowing I've been beaten, I nod._

" _I know I'm acting like a crazy pregnant woman, but my emotions are all over the place. One minute I'm laughing, the next I'm crying, the next I'm craving all kinds of ridiculous food combinations." I explain and Evy laughs._

" _That sounds delightful." She teases and I playfully glare at her._

" _Just you wait, dear little sister, you won't be teasing when it's happening to you." I warn and she blushes._

" _Jessie, I'll be home in a week. You and Evy will be having so much fun, I bet you won't notice the days go by." Rick assures me and I roll my eyes, smiling slightly._

" _Fine. I just-" I'm cut off by a jerking movement in my stomach and I gasp, placing a hand on my swollen belly._

" _Jessie? What's wrong?" Rick asks, rushing to me, concern in his wide blue eyes and I smile, a tear slide down my cheek._

" _The baby.." I trail off, and he looks worried before I laugh happily. "I felt the baby move." I explain and he grins, placing his hand on my belly and sure enough, the baby moves again, causing him to jerk back in surprise, but his hand never leaving my belly._

" _Oh my god." He breathes out and I look up at him._

" _I love you. Please be safe." I plead and he leans down to kiss me sweetly._

" _I love you too. I always am." He promises and they leave Evy and I standing in the doorway, watching the car drive away._

 _ **9 months pregnant...**_

" _Jonathon, you really don't need to do this. I'm fine on my own overnight." I tell my older brother walks into my house with his suitcase, with me wearing a pale blue nightgown that shows off my 8 month pregnant belly._

" _I know, but this wasn't my idea. It's just that someone couldn't wait to see you." He explains and I look outside to see Evy and her husband, Ardeth, standing outside with their suitcases. I giggle excitedly and she rushes forward and hugs me carefully._

" _I know, I'm huge." I reply, placing a hand on my swollen belly and she smiles._

" _You look amazing." She argues and I laugh again, gesturing them inside._

" _Rick is pulling a late one at the Museum tonight. I would be too but.." I sigh, looking down at my stomach. "Obviously I won't be doing that anytime soon." I conclude and I show them into the living room._

" _Oh, you've redecorated. I like it." Jon observes and I smile as I lower myself onto the couch._

" _Yeah, Rick wanted all of our weapons and dig souvenirs locked away safely in our study for when the baby comes. He's such a worrier." I explain, smiling at my husband's concerns, when I feel the baby moving and I inhale sharply, causing the three guests to look at me, concerned._

" _Are you alright?" Ardeth asks me, and I wave it off, my hand resting on my very large, swollen belly._

" _The baby is moving a lot tonight, that's all." I brush off and Evy looks at me, nervously._

" _Can I.." She asks, trailing off and I grin, nodding. She places her hand on my stomach and I guide it to where the baby is moving, causing her to gasp in surprise._

" _That's amazing! Is it strange?" She questions and I bite my lip, thinking._

" _Not really. The first time, it scares you at first, but then you realize it's your baby, and it's amazing. You feel so connected. The baby loves it when we talk. I read out loud a lot, especially when Rick is away. I think it makes us both feel better about it. I occasionally read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, but mainly I read about my adventures, the majority of the ones with Rick." I inform them and Jon chuckles._

" _You read about your adventures, including all the danger-filled details?" He asks, amused and I giggle._

" _Of course not! I leave things out. I just.. I want our child to know how we met. How we fell in love." I explain, blushing, and Evy takes my hand, not resting on my belly, in hers, smiling._

" _I think it's wonderful. I'd love to read about your adventures one of these days. Oh! You should have them published! The Adventures of Jessie Carnahan. Or O'Connell, as it were." She suggests and I smile._

" _Eves, I don't think people want to read about my silly adventures." I dismiss but Jonathon shakes his head._

" _I agree with Evy. That sounds interesting. You're very famous in the archaeology world, I'm sure people want to read all about you and your adventures." He encourages and I nod._

" _Maybe once the little O'Connell arrives.. It's not like I won't have the time, considering I'll be on bed-rest." I think out loud and Evy grins. We chat for a while before I slowly rise from my place on the couch to fetch some tea._

" _I can get it, you shouldn't be on your feet, Jess." Ardeth offers and I smile, shaking my head._

" _I need to get up and move a bit. The baby's getting restless." I explain, but then I feel a sharp pain in my stomach and I grab a hold of Ardeth's arm, bending over._

" _Jessie, are you alright?" Evy asks me, worriedly, and I'm about to wave it off as the baby moving around after sitting for so long, I hear the distinct sound of water splashing and I feel a cool wetness dripping down my legs._

" _Bloody hell." I mutter, my eyes widening._

" _Jonathon, hurry to the museum and get Rick. Go now!" Evy instructs him and he practically runs out the door. My eyes tear up and spill over and Ardeth carries me to Rick and my bedroom, placing me on the bed. I groan as I feel another tight, pulling in my stomach and I feel a hand slip in mine, causing me to look up and see Rick standing next to the bed and I let out a sob._

" _I'm not ready. I can't do this. Rick.." I exclaim and he moves a strand of hair away from my face._

" _Honey, we've fought 3,000 year old mummies and curses. You can do this. I'm right here." He encourages and I smile._

" _I love you." I breathe out, and the door opens, the doctor walks straight in and sits on a chair at the foot of the bed._

" _Jessica, you're almost ready." He informs me before looking to Evy. Jonathon and Ardeth were waiting in the hallway, not wanting to be in the room, in the way. "I need towels, warm water, and a blanket." He instructs and she hurries off to get the supplies, coming back to give them to the doctor, before waiting int the hallway. I feel the pulling again and I groan again, squeezing Rick's hand._

" _Jessica-" The doctor begins._

" _Jessie. My n-name is Jessie." I correct in between the pain, and he smiles._

" _Alright, Jessie. When you feel the tight pulling again, I need you to sit up and push as hard as you can." He informs me and I nod, exhaling shakily. I feel the pulling again and I lean forward, pushing as hard as I can, screaming in pain, before leaning back, breathing hard. This repeats for what seems like forever before the doctor looks at me again._

" _One more big push, Mrs.O'Connell, and you'll have your baby." He explains and I nod, feeling the pulling and I push, crying out when suddenly I hear a loud wailing and I glimpse a flash of small, pink skin, before it's placed in the blanket Evy brought. "Congratulations, it's a boy." The doctor informs us and I let out a shaky laugh._

" _A son." Rick whispers, a tear sliding down his face and I kiss his hand, before the doctor hands me our baby. His small, sweet face, he has a few strands of blonde hair, my nose, Rick's chin. I feel a tear fall down my face and I smile at the beautiful person we created._

" _He's perfect." I tell Rick, lovingly and he kisses the top of my head._

" _Do you have a name picked out?" The doctor asks and I look up, smiling at Rick._

" _Alexander. Alexander Rupert O'Connell." I tell him, my eyes never leaving Rick's._

" _A wonderful name. Congratulations again, Mr. and Mrs. O'Connell." He politely replies before he leaves, and our family hesitantly enters. Evy rushes over, tears in her eyes as she glances down at my son._

" _Oh my god, Jess! He's gorgeous." She praises, and Alexander's nose scrunches up in his sleep._

" _What's his name?" Jonathon asks me, after kissing my sweat covered cheek, and I smile._

" _Alexander. My little, Alex." I inform them and they gush at the name. I turn to Rick, who is laying in the bed next to me, and I pull him to me, kissing him sweetly._

" _I love you." I whisper and he grins, looking down at our tiny son in his arms._

" _Thank you, Jess." He says, kissing my hand, and I smile tiredly, before I feel my eyes flutter closed and I drift off, dreaming of my beautiful new addition to the O'Connell family._


End file.
